Peanuts (Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Charles M. Schulz)

December 1978 has a storyline about Sally writing a story about Santa and his rain gear, where Santa rides around in the rain dressed in a yellow slicker and big rubber boots.

This seems an oddly prescient story, what with Christmasses getting warmer and warmer. Well, not like white Christmasses were that common to begin with in the Netherlands historically (December tends to be storm month, not snow month over here), but still.

I love that story! It's so cute.

The "White Christmas" bit has become less common where I am too (central US), and I'd say it's never been that common here to begin with. We're more likely to get a light snow in early December and then a couple of heavier snows in January and February (if we get snow at all). Schulz, though, was from Minnesota, and they are known to get a good deal of snow in winter.

There's a joke about music pirates... in 1979! Who was pirating music in 1979... and how? I thought that was a digital music thing only?

Or does Schultz mean, like, with cassette tapes? Is making a mix tape considered piracy?

Pirate radio?

I guess, but the joke is about comparing it to actual pirates, which suggests listeners rather than companies.

It's funny reading the strips where Charlie Brown refers to himself as "the goat," as in "If I catch this fly ball, I'll be the hero! If I miss it, I'll be the goat!" considering how the connotation of "goat" has changed (in case you don't know, "goat" is often used these days as an acronym for "Greatest Of All Time").

In July 1979 there is a storyline about Charlie Brown getting sick. I think that's the first time that ever happened so far in this comic. Seems weirdly prophetic. I wonder what prompted that story?

Possibly just that it was a story Schulz hadn't done before? I can't remember if it was before or after, but he did a story where Snoopy had to go to the hospital, too.

But yeah, he had heart-bypass surgery himself in 1981, so I suppose the strip was a bit prophetic.

Oh look, a female bird named Harriet has joined Snoopy's scout troop! And here come the sexist jokes... She can join because she brought a cake. Snoopy thinks that she knows flowers because she is a girl (she doesn't, at least). Harriet eats the entire cake before anyone else can. Snoopy thinks hikes are too difficult for girls (and is disproven). And she rewards Snoopy with another cake.

This is a rather awkward story line about gender politics for someone who usually manages it effortlessly. Maybe it was based on real life events?

As with the Spike strips, the strips involving Snoopy's Beagle Scouts always left me cold.

from when is that story arc? depending on the time period sexism could be understood as a product of its time.

Around April 1980.

then I think it could be considered fair for its day

Schulz actually used a number of Peanuts strips to boost for women's athletics; I know there's at least one sequence where Peppermint Patty is irate about women's sports not getting enough attention (as a non-sports fan, I think all sports get way too much attention, but that's me).

If I remember correctly, in future Beagle Scout strips, Harriet becomes just another name among the multitude, so Schulz doesn't continue to do gender-specific jokes with her.

Edited by Robbery on Sep 3rd 2022 at 10:11:14 AM

Yeah, and that's what made me raise my eyebrows a bit when she got introduced.

Man, the summer camp of 1980 was rough... some religious camp that had a doomsday speaker. I sure hope that is not an Aluminum Christmas Tree.

Edited by Redmess on Sep 8th 2022 at 1:29:12 PM

I remember that one. One is forced to wonder if Schulz was responding to something specific he'd read or heard about. He wouldn't have been a fan of that kind of dogma, nor of having it aimed at kids. I've never heard of such a camp actually existing, one that preached doomsday garbage, but a lot of summer camps in the US are owned by churches, so it wouldn't surprise me either.

I recall Schulz saying that he never understood the appeal of summer camps, or why anyone would want to go to one, which is why they're continually such a trial for his characters.

My brother went to a summer camp, and was a counsellor there as well. He enjoyed it, and has fond memories of it, but my attitude echoes Schulz. I don't see the appeal of regimented camping in the woods with a bunch of strangers.

Edited by Robbery on Sep 9th 2022 at 12:00:20 PM

Well of course, the appeal is for the parents, not the children.

Been reading a strips from the late 90's, many of which feature Snoopy's brothers Olaf and Andy trying and failing to find Spike in the Needles desert. One that stands out has Snoopy at the typewriter writing that he said good-bye to Andy and Olaf that morning, and that was the last time he ever saw them. That's all, no joke, no inversion, it just flatly states "That was the last time we ever saw them." Sad and ominous and a strange tone for Peanuts to strike. The fact is, Andy and Olaf did show up at Snoopy's doghouse again a few months later, and several times after that, still looking for Spike, but still.

In 1987, Schulz said in an interview that he had come to wish he'd never introduced all of Snoopy's brothers and sister (aside from Spike, who he liked, and who he felt should stay in Needles and just write to Snoopy). He felt that the other dogs messed with Snoopy's relationship with the kids. The strange thing about that was that Schulz would use Snoopy's brothers and sisters quite a bit after 1987 (the strips I mention above are from the late 90's). No one was forcing him to use them, and he'd had any number of characters he'd just stopped using after awhile.

Still, he was creating a daily comic strip; I suppose it's possible that he kept using them because he kept thinking up ways to use them, and as such they were a way to fill out the strip.

Well, he had been writing it for nigh on 40 years at that point, it is not surprising that he had hangups about his own creation. Herge had something very similar with Tintin.

What's this comic about films with feet and elbows about? I don't really get the joke. Is it referencing something real?

While that strip looks like it's from the 80's or 90's, my guess would be it's referencing the kind of schlocky horror movies that came out in the 50's and early 60's, the plots of which often featured mutated things (one, for instance, was called The Living Eye) wreaking havoc or trying to take over the world.

It's kinda curious how all the characters seem able to read Snoopy's mind.

Saturday 11/26 comic strips will pay tribute to Schulz's 100th birthday.

Edited by alanh on Nov 25th 2022 at 10:26:50 AM